Music Review - Live in Lexington

This week I had the pleasure of listening to the recently released 9th album from Massachusetts musicians Ben Rudnick & Friends. The album, Live in Lexington: Under the Copper Beech, features songs from the bands live recordings as well as a few funky cover tunes. When I heard these guys affectionately referred to as “the Grateful Dead for kids” I was pretty curious to give them a spin!

There’s 25 eclectic tracks on this album, so for the purpose of today’s review I thought I’d pick out small sampling of my favourites. Firstly, track 14 sees Ben take on Dire Straits classic “Walk of Life”, which I love. He also injects some funk into Buddy Holly’s “Oh Boy” and Hank Williams “Hey, Good Lookin” which provides the perfect opportunity to educate your kids about these legendary musicians {or, you know… just sing really loudly and embarrass them}.

Moving onto Ben’s originals, “My Name is Burt” gave me more than a few giggles… it’s an adventure in pure hilarity! I won’t ruin the story for you, but let’s just say that it involves a worm on a rollercoaster. You can listen to it at Ben Rudnick’s website. I also dig the bluegrassy stylings of “Mama Don’t ‘Low”, the melodies on “Monkey & The Engineer” and family favourite “I Got A New Friend” (it turns out she’s an Alien)!